Trump appeared on a Kick live stream with Adin Ross, then things got weird

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign took an interesting detour today when the former president appeared on a live broadcast hosted by streamer Adin Ross. The live stream was hosted on Kick and at its peak had over 580,000 viewers.

Ross is a streamer Known for courting controversy. At the height of his popularity on Twitch, he had over 7 million followers. He hosted influencer Andrew Tate, who is currently facing charges in Romania for rape and human trafficking. He was repeatedly banned from Twitch for using racial slurs, before being permanently banned last year after hosting a chat stream where users spammed racial and anti-Semitic slurs. Ross migrated to the alternative streaming site Kick, where he continued his antics, which included hosting known white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

The flow with Trump could generate so much controversy. At one point during the interview, Ross presented Trump with a Rolex watch. Shortly after presenting him with the watch, Ross mentioned Fani Willis, the Georgia state attorney, who brought charges against Trump for alleged election interference during the 2020 presidential election.

“I have a friend who is currently being treated very unfairly by [District Attorney Willis]. He’s a rapper named Young Thug,” Ross said during the live broadcast, referring to Williams’ extortion case against the rapper. “I was just wondering if there’s a way we can make sure he’s treated fairly?”

Donald Trump has a precedent for getting rappers out of sticky legal situations. At the end of his term in 2021, Trump pardoned rapper Lil Wayne after he pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession. He also commuted the sentence of rapper Kodak Black, who was sentenced to 46 months after lying on federal forms in an attempt to buy firearms.

Trump did not directly respond to Ross’ question, saying, “He needs to be treated fairly.” As details of the broadcast spread across social media, observers wondered whether Ross was trying to bribe Trump or whether accepting such an expensive gift constituted some kind of campaign finance violation.

The two continued the live broadcast with Trump offering one-word comments about a list of celebrities and politicians, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Finally, at the end of the broadcast, Ross presented Trump with another gift: a custom-wrapped Tesla Cybertruck featuring the now famous photo of Trump after he was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The broadcast ended with Ross and Trump broadcasting from the Cybertruck while “YMCA” played them.